Regression of the Transcendent Blacksmith - Chapter 02

========== REGRESSION OF THE TRANSCENDENT BLACKSMITH CHAPTER 2 ==========

“…Ha.”

A dry laugh escaped him.

Seeing the message window, it finally hit him that this situation was reality.

“Regression, huh.”

And right back to the moment of my awakening, at that.

A situation that was impossible to believe.

Shin Tae-ho calmly retraced his memories and organized the situation.

‘I definitely used the core and charged at Arcanus.’

He could still vividly recall the feeling of his soul burning away that he felt back then.

But only the immense, endless pain came to mind.

He couldn’t quite get a grasp on the reason for his regression.

‘No, wait.’

Shin Tae-ho, who had been searching his memory, retraced the very end.

His vision, buried in dragon breath, where nothing could be identified.

But Shin Tae-ho had definitely seen something familiar in his final moment.

Letters written in a translucent, square box.

Shin Tae-ho, recalling that familiar shape, opened his eyes wide.

‘Could it be…?’

The message window floating in front of his eyes right now.

What he saw back then was exactly the same as the Tower’s system.

There was one more thing he was suspicious of.

‘Back then… surely, even if just for a moment, it soared to 100%.’

The remaining capacity of the core, which couldn’t even fill 1% despite being hit by countless dragon breaths.

But when he was being burned by Arcanus’s breath.

It felt like he saw the remaining capacity, which had been fluctuating for a brief moment, fill up to 100%.

‘The core I made is what caused me to regress?’

Thump!

As Shin Tae-ho jumped up at the sudden thought.

Something hit Shin Tae-ho’s foot and rolled against the wall.

Shin Tae-ho’s eyes widened as he looked at where the sound came from.

“The core…?!”

A core the size of a belly, barely fitting in one hand.

It was definitely the Transcendental-grade core he had created.

A surprised Shin Tae-ho quickly picked up the core.

He habitually tried to think about checking the item information, but all he got in return was a sharp headache.

[You do not have the ability to check item information.]

[You have not yet obtained a class. Please proceed with the tutorial.]

“So I can’t even check item information without a class.”

Shin Tae-ho pressed his head and frowned at the feeling of static electricity in his brain.

But Shin Tae-ho wasn’t disappointed in the slightest.

No.

He was actually smiling.

‘Even if I can’t check it yet, the fact that I can start with the core is a huge stroke of luck.’

This core was a precious item that even blocked a dragon’s breath.

Above all, it was a Transcendental-grade core imbued with the essence of magic, magitech, and alchemy that even he couldn’t fully comprehend.

Even if he couldn’t use it right now, it was certain that he would use it effectively someday.

‘First, let’s get a class. It won’t be too late to worry about that later.’

Shin Tae-ho hugged the core to his chest.

He couldn’t use his inventory because he didn’t have a class.

He could have left it at home, but he felt like he wouldn’t be able to focus on the tutorial because he’d be worried about the core.

[Would you like to enter the tutorial?]

“I will enter.”

As Shin Tae-ho answered, the content of the notification window changed.

[Confirmation complete. Entering the tutorial.]

Shin Tae-ho’s body floated up.

Shin Tae-ho’s body, transported to the tutorial, vanished from the room in an instant.

Shin Tae-ho opened his eyes at the feeling of his feet touching the ground.

He saw a tower standing tall in the middle of a space as white as a blank sheet of paper.

“It’s been a really long time.”

The Tutorial Tower.

The place where classes are determined, a place every Awakened must go through.

At the same time, it was a place that every Awakened could enter only once.

‘A class, huh.’

Shin Tae-ho’s eyes deepened as he looked at the tower.

The class Shin Tae-ho had obtained in the past was Blacksmith.

And as a result of focusing only on his work without even climbing the tower, he had earned the title of Transcendental Blacksmith.

Shin Tae-ho already knew more about being a Blacksmith than anyone else.

But because of that, Shin Tae-ho couldn’t help but agonize over it.

‘The Blacksmith class has its limits.’

Once a class is determined, the direction of future growth is fixed.

And the gap in that growth can never be easily narrowed.

To use an analogy, if a level 100 Blacksmith fought a level 80 Warrior, the Warrior was more likely to win.

That was the problem.

‘This time, I’m climbing the tower myself. In that case… a class other than Blacksmith is advantageous.’

It didn’t mean the Blacksmith class was useless, of course.

But no matter how good an item he made and wore.

As long as his class was Blacksmith, it was difficult to properly unleash its power.

‘They said the class is determined based on the performance shown in the tutorial.’

Shin Tae-ho retraced the information he had heard in the past.

Only Awakened who had obtained a class could climb the tower.

And since humanity’s survival depended on them, humanity had never stopped researching the Awakened.

As a result, it was discovered that classes are determined by innate talent and performance in the tutorial.

‘Let’s not overthink it. It’s not like I choose the class anyway. It manifests.’

Even now, having regressed, the knowledge and experience from when he was a Blacksmith remained in his head.

In other words, the only difference was that even if he obtained a different class, he wouldn’t be able to use the Blacksmith class’s abilities.

He would preserve the Blacksmith abilities he already possessed.

He would obtain a combat-related class and climb the tower with the weapons he made.

That was Shin Tae-ho’s plan to change the future with the opportunity he had regained.

And above all.

‘I will never repeat the same mistake.’

Wearing the suits he made.

The traitors who wielded the weapons he made against humanity for the sake of the tower.

After that, the Earth that was twisted and contaminated by the Tower’s Qi.

And the beings of the Tower that poured out and trampled the world as they advanced.

Just recalling the memory made his fists clench and his veins bulge.

Shin Tae-ho, who calmed his mind by taking a deep breath, looked around.

‘By the way, what is this? It’s already past the time for it to appear.’

Shin Tae-ho furrowed his brow.

The Tutorial Tower is where people who have just awakened come.

In other words, it was a place people came to without knowing anything about the Tower.

That’s why a guide would appear when you arrived at the Tutorial Tower.

And the procedure was for them to give a basic explanation of the Tower and then open the door.

But for some reason, the guide, who should have appeared a long time ago, still hadn’t shown themselves.

‘Is the system not applying because I regressed?’

As he was debating whether to just open the door and go in himself.

A strange voice was heard above Shin Tae-ho, who was agonizing.

“What a curious child.”

Shin Tae-ho lifted his head at the voice coming from above.

There, a woman, who he didn’t know how long had been there, was standing in mid-air, looking down at Shin Tae-ho.

Shin Tae-ho quickly scanned her appearance.

A unique outfit resembling a hanbok, and horns extending from both temples.

And a thick, long tail visible behind her caught his eye.

‘What is this? It’s a race I’ve never seen before.’

Shin Tae-ho asked, tensed up.

“Who are you?”

“Asking for my identity right off the bat. What a rude child.”

The woman chuckled.

Contrary to her words, she didn’t seem that offended.

“However, since you’ve come here, I suppose I should tell you. I am Arimir, the administrator of this place.”

‘Administrator? Not a guide?’

Shin Tae-ho’s confusion grew even greater.

To think there is an entity that manages the Tutorial Tower.

He had never heard of such a thing.

But one thing was certain.

That there was no good in provoking Arimir, who introduced herself as the administrator, right now.

“Excuse me. My name is Shin Tae-ho.”

“I’m not curious about your name, which will soon vanish. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have had any reason to come here in person.”

Arimir shrugged, closing her eyes as if she wasn’t interested.

But when she opened her eyes again, her pupils were narrowed vertically.

“But the item you brought with you led me here.”

The air around them changed.

She hadn’t used any power, but just by Arimir slightly narrowing her eyes, it felt like gravity had increased.

Shin Tae-ho’s face stiffened.

‘Did she use Qi? But to emit this kind of pressure just by releasing Qi?’

Qi is the power of the Tower that manifests supernatural abilities thought to be impossible in reality.

Awakened also used Qi to enhance their physical abilities and use magic.

But it was almost impossible to emit this much pressure instantly like this.

There was only one being in Shin Tae-ho’s memory who could do something like this.

‘Dragon Lord Arcanus. It feels the same as when I saw that guy from afar.’

His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed.

He got goosebumps automatically at the feeling of countless invisible eyes scanning him thoroughly.

“Item? What are you talking about?”

“Are you pretending not to know? The presence of it felt from your clothing is too conspicuous for that.”

“Clothing?”

Shin Tae-ho, recalling something at Arimir’s words, rummaged through his pockets.

Arimir’s eyes lit up as the core was pulled out into Shin Tae-ho’s hand.

“Yes, that’s it. Fascinating. Let’s see.”

Arimir’s Qi, which had dominated the surroundings, moved.

Just by bringing her will to mind, the Qi intertwined naturally as if breathing, becoming psychokinesis.

She just reached out her hand, but an invisible force snatched the core from Shin Tae-ho’s hand.

Shin Tae-ho’s expression twisted.

“What the hell are you doing-”

“Be quiet. You rude child.”

One of Shin Tae-ho’s knees was forced to the ground.

The Qi intertwined with psychokinesis pressed down on Shin Tae-ho with immense weight and gagged him.

Thick veins bulged on the forehead of the enraged Shin Tae-ho.

‘Damn it…! Even if I’m in a state without a class, to not even be able to resist Qi that hasn’t even been manifested…!’

Shin Tae-ho glared upwards.

He saw Arimir looking at the core he had made with interest.

That image overlapped with the image of the Human Traitor who used his weapons as they pleased.

‘Never again! Once I get out of here, I will never let anyone take my things ever again! I swear!’

As Shin Tae-ho chewed on his anger.

A strange phenomenon was felt by Arimir’s Qi sense as she examined the core.

Arimir, who was examining the core as if looking for scratches, was startled.

‘What is this? Is it trying to absorb my Qi right now?’

As the core itself was a vessel for storing Qi, that wasn’t strange.

The problem was that the core, which was separated from its owner’s hand, had activated on its own.

And that the core’s capacity and the power to absorb Qi were far beyond common sense.

Kwarururuk!

“Ugh?!”

Arimir was flustered.

The core absorbed Arimir’s Qi as if parched land were swallowing rain.

An anomaly that happened in an instant.

Arimir tried to cut off her Qi in a hurry, but the core’s absorption of Qi didn’t stop because the force was so strong.

‘No, no way! To be unaffected even after containing this much of my Qi?!’

The core had already sucked up all the Qi that had been converted into psychokinesis.

And it wasn’t enough; it was trying to take away the Qi from her main body as well.

Arimir, realizing she had lost control over her own Qi, was shocked.

‘No! Stop!!’

Arimir hurriedly closed all her Qi circuits.

As all Qi was cut off, Arimir’s body, which had been standing loftily in the sky, fell to the ground.

Splat!

“…?!”

With a cheerful sound.

Shin Tae-ho’s eyes widened at the sight of Arimir suddenly sprawled out in front of him.

To be continued in the next episode ▶